NFL Hot Seat: New Orleans Saints Sean Payton joins ranks

Two coaches remain on the NFL Hot Seat entering Week 3, but our third seat in the fire has changed as New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton is on notice.

Last week, we picked Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis as the head coach on one of the hottest seats in the NFL. One game later, it is abundantly clear that Lewis’ seat is the hottest in all the league. His team went out and laid an egg Thursday night, dropping the Bengals record to 0-2.

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The Indianapolis Colts put up another stinker as well, meaning head coach Chuck Pagano also remains in the fire. But we have three seats to fill. Who joins them on the NFL hot seat entering Week 3? Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints are on notice.

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the NFL Hot Seat and the New Orleans Saints in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem

The Bengals were the first team since 1939 to begin a season with two home games and zero touchdowns. 1939! Now, I’m not sure of the sample size of teams that have actually started with back-to-back home games, but it’s been the entire Super Bowl era since this has happened regardless.

The franchise has already fired its offensive coordinator just two weeks into the season. Lewis has to be next on the chopping block. He is a mainstay in the league but has never really won enough to earn that distinction. His playoff resume is especially egregious. Regular season mediocrity shouldn’t save him for another year.

Lewis isn’t alone sitting in a hot seat though. Another of the warm-pants men from Week 1 shows up again after Week 2. Indianapolis’ Chuck Pagano needs to update his resume. Even if Andrew Luck comes back soon, this isn’t a good football team. Pagano’s days have to be numbered.

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Is the hot seat just two deep at this point? Do you see anyone else deserving of a spot?

The Chargers have continued to blow games late, but Anthony Lynn is in his first season. The Seahawks and Cardinals looked pretty poor, but they have entrenched leaders and managed to win their games. You tabbed Bruce Arians as a hot seat coach last week. Does an ugly victory change your mind? That win is banked, regardless of how poor the squad appeared. And wins mean everything in this league.

Dan Salem

Marvin Lewis and Chuck Pagano are roasting on the hot seat. While both of their teams managed to keep things competitive in week 2, I’m pretty sure that’s a knock on the competition, rather than a credit to Cincinnati and Indianapolis respectively. We must fill a third NFL hot seat. It no longer belongs to Arizona’s Bruce Arians. His team’s victory over the lowly Colts, shorthanded on offense no less, gives Arians a pass heading into Week 3.

The two teams that played the Bengals and Colts in Week 2 are not very good. Those teams are the Houston Texans and Arizona Cardinals. Maybe they become solid teams this season, but today they are not. Yet we already excused Arizona’s head coach for the time being, and Houston is playing with a rookie quarterback and an injured defense. I’m not putting their head man on the hot seat. All first year coaches get a pass right now, as do many entrenched leaders with former success who are struggling out of the gates.

But not Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints.

Its been many seasons since the Saints were a potent playoff team. NFL fans knew that Drew Brees‘ long term deal, and the massive salary therein, would hamper the team’s ability to be competitive later in the contract. We have reached that point, as Brees attempts to end his illustrious career on a high note.

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Perhaps you’ll argue that New Orleans lost its first two games this season to superior opponents. They did. But whatever Sean Payton is serving up is no longer working. The Saints are not winning football games. Their schedule does them no favors. New Orleans is likely the underdog in each of their next four games, until they play the Bears in week 7 of the season. Its not inconceivable that the Saints enter their game against Chicago at 0-6 or 1-5 on the year.

Sean Payton must be on the NFL hot seat, because there’s no one left to blame. He has a star quarterback to work with, yet a mere 20 points a game is not good enough when your defense remains bad. The Saints defense has been weak for several seasons. Something has to give. This season is going to get ugly. Payton is on the hot seat.